Chapter 75: Spring Sowing (4K)

The noticeably plumper Flame Bird lay to the side, eyes closed in rest, while the Growlithe chewed on a pair of black slippers all too familiar to Luo Mu, playing with the Fidough.

Only he in this house wore slippers, so there was no need to guess whose those were, already chewed full of holes.

Several blue veins bulged on his forehead as Luo Mu kept hypnotizing himself that the child was still young and ignorant, and would behave better when it grew up a bit.

After enduring again and again, he finally lost his composure when the Growlithe dug out the blue slippers Luo Mu had lost the day before from some nook or cranny and handed them to the Fidough to play with, acting as if sticking with him would bring great benefits.

"Grow... li... the!"

Luo Mu's voice, brimming with anger, not only made the Growlithe's body tremble in fright, but even caused the Flame Bird, which had been watching the Growlithe play with a smile, to look over with a terrified expression.

What was going on? Why was Luo Mu suddenly so angry?

In the Flame Bird's understanding, there was no concept of destroying the home; the Growlithe loving to play with slippers merely proved that this whelp was being raised well by it, its nature fully released, providing ample talking material for other Pokémon when it went outside.

Luo Mu took a few steps to the Growlithe's side, squatted down, and precisely grabbed the scruff of its neck to bring its line of sight level with his own.

Yet upon meeting the Growlithe's guilty eyes and its drooping tail, though his heart softened, Luo Mu forcibly maintained his sternness, for compromise was impossible when it came to education.

Under the Fidough's thoughtful gaze, the hierarchy within the household was once again confirmed.

Even the big brother Growlithe could only obediently emit whimpers begging for mercy before Luo Mu, behaving as meekly as a quail.

After finding a perfectly packaged flowerpot in the warehouse, Luo Mu collected nutrient-rich soil from the experimental fields in the farming area to fill it, quickly preparing the flowerpot for the Milcery.

Receiving the new flowerpot, the Milcery's cheeks flushed with a hint of redness, and under the gaze of the Bai Bai Pengpeng, it bent its brows and eyes in a smile to thank Luo Mu.

"It's nothing; since I brought you back, fulfilling this basic responsibility is simply what I ought to do. Rest well in your new flowerpot."

Luo Mu gently stroked the Milcery's uniquely textured cheek, speaking softly.

"Mil~"

Closing its eyes, the Milcery enjoyed the sense of security brought by the human who was quite tall compared to itself, its heart filling with anticipation for its future life.

Seeing how much the Milcery was enjoying it, the Bai Bai Pengpeng felt a twinge of jealousy and immediately surrounded Luo Mu, acting coquettishly to indicate they wanted their heads stroked too.

After comforting all four Pokémon one by one until they were satisfied, Luo Mu left with his hands behind his back, muttering, "Am I raising Pokémon, or am I an Emperor comforting each concubine in his harem?"

Something just didn't feel right...

Somewhat suspecting that the Pokémon on his farm were a bit off, Luo Mu frowned and located the final Pokémon needing placement today—the Shuang Nai Xian.

To be honest, he had mentally prepared himself the moment he found three Pokémon in the kitchen, but when Luo Mu saw the scene before him, he still couldn't help but sigh.

The Pokémon temporarily tasked with watching the Shuang Nai Xian after the dismissal was the Dragonite; at the time, Luo Mu had worried whether the Dragonite, drooling over sweetness, might do something brainless... such as personally tasting the "flavor" of the Shuang Nai Xian.

However, seeing that the Serperior had also proposed keeping watch over the Dragonite to prevent it from suddenly getting hot-blooded, Luo Mu agreed to their request to temporarily care for the Shuang Nai Xian.

Yet now, these two fair-weather sisters had escalated to a sword-drawn, bow-bent standoff over the issue of the Shuang Nai Xian's ownership.

Luo Mu scanned the kitchen once and roughly deduced the cause of the incident: on the table nearby lay a few slices of toast bread left over from breakfast that day.

At this moment, one slice of toast was smeared with what looked like very fresh and delicious cream, likely made by the Shuang Nai Xian.

Unlike its evolved form, the Alcremie, which can produce creams of different flavors based on its form, the Shuang Nai Xian produces cream with the purest original flavor; furthermore, having been born only recently, producing enough cream to cover this single slice of toast was probably its limit.

The slice of toast wasn't large; one could swallow it in a single bite.

However, for two champion-level main force Pokémon to look as if they were about to break into a fierce fight over the ownership of a single slice of cream toast was truly somewhat unsightly.

Ignoring the aura of both sides, Luo Mu stepped directly into the center of the battlefield, picked up the slightly panicked Shuang Nai Xian beside the toast with his right hand, and tapped the Dragonite and Serperior on their heads with his left hand, neither too lightly nor too heavily, as a warning, saying helplessly, "That's enough."

Picking up a small knife, he cut the toast into four equal portions, then with extremely fast hand movements, stuffed two portions into the mouths of the Dragonite and Serperior respectively, left one piece for the Shuang Nai Xian, and began tasting it himself.

Aside from the slightly dry texture of the toast which had been left out for half a day, the cream produced by the Shuang Nai Xian was indeed extremely delicious, sweet but not greasy, tasting like clouds with an airy yet delicate texture.

As assistants for a pastry chef, the Shuang Nai Xian and its evolved form, the Alcremie, were indeed among the most suitable Pokémon.

Luo Mu remembered that the Alcremie, after the Shuang Nai Xian evolves, possesses as many as sixty-three different forms, and depending on the form, the flavor of the cream produced by the Alcremie would be divided even more finely.

Basically, these fell into eight major categories: sweet-and-sour, aromatic, refreshing, sour, salty, colorful, slightly bitter, and complex.

After tasting the cream made by the Shuang Nai Xian, Luo Mu had already begun to anticipate what flavor the cream produced by the Alcremie would be once the Shuang Nai Xian evolved.

Forced by Luo Mu's authority, the Dragonite and Serperior could only accept the plan of dividing it into four parts; one used its hand, the other its vine whip to hold its cheeks, tasting the delicious cream brought by the Shuang Nai Xian with faces full of happiness.

Because the portion was so small, the Dragonite, who never cared about demeanor, even stuck out its tongue to lick around its mouth several times, as if afraid there was still cream stuck to its face.

The Serperior, however, paid great attention to its image—it chose to turn its back to the Shuang Nai Xian, Luo Mu, and the Dragonite before licking the cream smeared on its face.

Seeing the two of them in such a frantic state, Luo Mu could only turn his face away and couldn't help but smile; it seemed that the ability to produce cream alone was sufficient for the Shuang Nai Xian to receive dual care from both the Dragonite and the Serperior.

The Shuang Nai Xian's residence was ultimately chosen to be inside the kitchen cabinet, after all, it had always lived in the cabinet there at the Ai Li Ranch.

That said, Luo Mu still planned to find an opportunity later to visit the carpentry shop in Pingdie Town.

He intended to have a beautiful cabinet crafted specifically to store tableware for serving desserts, at which time the Shuang Nai Xian could move in and live there as well.

After settling the four newly joined Pokémon, the time was approaching seven o'clock in the evening.

After non-stop preparation of dinner for nearly twenty Pokémon, the sky had turned completely dark.

Once he finished dealing with the cleaning, Luo Mu finally returned to his bedroom, sat at his bright desk, and slowly began reading the professional book "On Pokémon Psychological Trauma" borrowed from Nurse Joy of Pingdie Town.

Although some time had passed since early spring, the evening temperature remained somewhat cold.

His cotton slippers had been completely wiped out due to the Growlithe, so Luo Mu could only wear summer sandals; as for how to keep warm... naturally, he let the Growlithe, whose body constantly emitted heat, warm his feet.

In the quiet night, under the bright light of the desk lamp, the rustling sound of Luo Mu turning pages was quite distinct.

The Growlithe was already lying on Luo Mu's feet, fast asleep, while the Luxray lay quietly near the desk with its eyes closed in rest; its body, capable of easily unleashing powerful Lei Ting, breathed rhythmically, looking rather like a harmless house cat.

Closing the book, Luo Mu checked the time.

Eleven o'clock.

It was time to rest; he had to get up early tomorrow morning to carry out the formal sowing and also plant all the saplings.

Stroking the Luxray's smooth fur, Luo Mu lifted the covers, inside which a Pokémon had already warmed the bed for him.

Used to such sights, he stepped over the bodies of the Serperior and Mimikyu to lie down in the bed, a smile appearing on his face as he whispered softly enough not to wake them, "Goodnight."

The next day.

Just as the sky began to brighten slightly, Luo Mu woke up; after lightly and quietly leaving the warm bed and enduring the slight chill transmitted from his exposed skin, he quickly completed his washing and grooming.

Once fully dressed, Luo Mu opened a brand-new bag of Pokémon food; occasionally, when he didn't want to cook by hand, he would use Pokémon food as a temporary stopgap.

In this world, industries related to Pokémon are incredibly developed, and Pokémon food has long been available.

In terms of nutrition, the formulation of Pokémon food is excellent, basically no different from homemade meals.

Most trainers who cannot cook choose to purchase Pokémon food; although it is slightly more expensive than making it themselves, it saves a great deal of trouble.

To compare using terms from the world Luo Mu crossed over from, it is like the relationship between cat and dog meals versus cat and dog kibble.

Because he started from nothing, most resources were poured into Luxray and the others; usually, to save money, Luo Mu would not choose Pokémon food, preferring to spend some time making it himself.

As for today... the workload would be enormous, and Luo Mu wanted to conserve his physical strength and energy as much as possible.

When the sky brightened fully, the Pokémon had already gotten up one after another; after finishing their daily meal, Luo Mu took several Pokémon capable of lending a hand and went straight to the farming area.

There are many crops suitable for spring planting; aside from various seasonal fruits and vegetables, today's protagonist would be the seemingly inconspicuous wheat.

Fidough's evolution, Dachsbun, possesses the ability to help wheat grow, and wheat can be ground into flour to make bread and other flour-based foods, or fermented to serve as beer.

Combined with the fresh cream from Milcery, it can be made into many types of desserts.

Even if not sold, the wheat on Luo Mu's own farm has many uses.

Because Mudsdale's strength was not yet strong, relying on it alone to till such a vast area of the farming region was impossible, so Luo Mu arranged for Swampert to lead Mudsdale to the planned berry sapling planting area to use the move Bulldoze, making the soil more fertile.

Compared to ordinary vegetable crops, berry trees containing rich energy require higher quality soil.

Picking up farming tools, with the help of the Pokémon, Luo Mu freely shed his sweat in the fields.

This farm work continued for an entire day.

At dusk, Luo Mu supported his slightly sore waist, looking at the farmland that had not even reached one-quarter of the total progress, and sighed.

Relying solely on himself, the speed and efficiency of farming were too slow.

Even with Pokémon assisting nearby, that was merely assistance; they could not become a decisive fighting force.

At times like this, if there were a Psychic-type Pokémon, many repetitive bending motions would not be necessary, but unfortunately, none of the Pokémon he had caught were Psychic-type.

To be bolder, adding the Grass type to the Psychic type, mythical Pokémon like Celebi and legendary Pokémon like Calyrex, could not just farm; creating an entire forest would be no problem.

The titles of Forest God and King of Abundance were not earned for nothing.

Besides that, it seemed one of the four Island Guardians of the Alola region, Tapu Tapu Moumou, could not only till the land but also possessed the ability to make vegetation flourish.

Unfortunately, as rare individuals, the Alola region would not allow their own Island Guardians to be taken away by people from other regions.

After dinner, Luo Mu rarely continued absorbing knowledge; instead, he lay prone on the bed, enjoying a vine massage from Serperior.

Luo Mu was not quite clear what specific school of massage Serperior practiced, but under Luxray's command, every spot it pressed caused Luo Mu to let out a light groan of pain, yet afterward, he could feel extremely relaxed.

Under the gaze of Luxray's eyes flashing with Jin Guang, Luo Mu felt that not just his clothes, but even his skin and muscle tissues were seen through.

X-ray vision, so terrifying.

Enjoyment aside, Luo Mu did not forget his main business.

Taking advantage of having no classes in the evening, he called each student who had left their phone number.

Usually, aside from class hours, he basically never stayed at Grandma Ju Zi's Academy, so if students had any problems with training, they could only communicate via phone.

Ending the lengthy thirty-minute call with Hearing Hearing Nimo, Luo Mu let out a long sigh, and Dragonite promptly handed him a cup of warm water.

Drinking the water, Luo Mu rubbed his temples with a headache.

The other students were fine, basically finishing up in ten minutes; only Hearing Hearing Nimo seemed to have endless questions, and if she hadn't detected the exhaustion in Luo Mu's voice, she might have discussed Pokémon battles and training with him all night.

Moreover, Hearing Hearing Nimo's level of questioning was quite good; Luo Mu could feel that she was absorbing Professor Luo Mu's experience at an inconceivable speed, like a sponge.

"Is this the talent of a true battle genius..."

Luo Mu fell into reminiscence, recalling that in the Zhu Zi game, whether it was Hearing Hearing Nimo or Geeta, neither had used their full strength when battling "himself"; Hearing Hearing Nimo used a newly trained team, while Geeta held back considerably.

Just like his own Champion Assessment, if Geeta had led with that ridiculously strong Tinkaton and then anchored with that General Pu Dao, he would have been in serious trouble.

Thinking thus, Luo Mu helplessly shook his head and slowly dialed the phone of the last student, Penny.